How to setup Fork CMS with Nginx on Ubuntu Linux

This article describes the steps to install and use Fork CMS on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support.

Fork CMS is a user-friendly open-source content management system (CMS) built on the LAMP or LEMP stack.

Setting up Fork CMS with Nginx on Ubuntu Linux provides a reliable and secure platform for managing website content. Nginx is a lightweight and high-performance web server that can handle heavy traffic loads and provide fast page-loading times.

Ubuntu Linux is a popular, easy-to-use operating system with a large community of developers and users. Fork CMS is a user-friendly open-source content management system (CMS) that provides a great alternative to other PHP-based CMS like WordPress, Drupal, or Joomla.

By following the steps to install and use Fork CMS on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support, you can create a powerful and flexible website that can be accessed on any device.

For more on ForkCMS, please visit its home page.

How to install ForkCMS on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support

As described above, Fork CMS is a user-friendly open-source content management system (CMS) built on the LAMP or LEMP stack.

Below is how to install it on Ubuntu Linux with Nginx support.

Install Nginx HTTP Server on Ubuntu

Nginx HTTP Server is the second most popular web server. Install it since ForkCMS needs it.

To install Nginx HTTP on the Ubuntu server, run the commands below.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx

After installing Nginx, the commands below can be used to stop, start, and enable the Nginx service to always start up with the server boots.

sudo systemctl stop nginx.service
sudo systemctl start nginx.service
sudo systemctl enable nginx.service

To test the Nginx setup, open your browser and browse to the server hostname or IP address. You should see the Nginx default test page below. When you see that, then Nginx is working as expected.

http://localhost

Install MariaDB Database Server

MariaDB database server is a great place to start when looking at open-source database servers for Magento. To install MariaDB, run the commands below.

sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client

After installing MariaDB, the commands below can stop, start, and enable the service to start when the server boots.

Run these on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

sudo systemctl stop mysql.service
sudo systemctl start mysql.service
sudo systemctl enable mysql.service

Run these on Ubuntu 17.10 and 18.04 LTS

sudo systemctl stop mariadb.service
sudo systemctl start mariadb.service
sudo systemctl enable mariadb.service

After that, run the commands below to secure the MariaDB server by creating a root password and disallowing remote root access.

sudo mysql_secure_installation

When prompted, answer the questions below by following the guide.

Enter current password for root (enter for none): Just press the Enter
Set root password? [Y/n]: Y
New password: Enter password
Re-enter new password: Repeat password
Remove anonymous users? [Y/n]: Y
Disallow root login remotely? [Y/n]: Y
Remove test database and access to it? [Y/n]: Y
Reload privilege tables now? [Y/n]: Y

Restart MariaDB server

Type the commands below to log into the MariaDB server to test if MariaDB is installed.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then, type the password you created above to sign on. If successful, you should see a MariaDB welcome message.

Install PHP 7.2-FPM and Related Modules

PHP 7.1 may not be available in Ubuntu default repositories. To install it, you will have to get it from third-party repositories.

Run the commands below to add the below third party repository to upgrade to PHP 7.2-FPM

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php

Then update and upgrade to PHP 7.2-FPM

sudo apt update

Next, run the commands below to install PHP 7.2 and related modules.

sudo apt install php7.2-fpm php7.2-common php7.2-sqlite php7.2-curl php7.2-intl php7.2-mbstring php7.2-xmlrpc php7.2-mysql php7.2-gd php7.2-xml php7.2-cli php7.2-zip

After installing PHP 7.2, run the commands below to open Nginx’s PHP default config file.

sudo nano /etc/php/7.2/fpm/php.ini

Then, save the changes on the following lines below in the file. The value below is an ideal setting to apply in your environment.

file_uploads = On
allow_url_fopen = On
short_open_tag = On
memory_limit = 256M
cgi.fix_pathinfo = 0
upload_max_filesize = 100M
max_execution_time = 360
date.timezone = America/Chicago

After making the change above, please save the file and close it.

After installing PHP and related modules, you must restart Nginx to reload PHP configurations.

To restart Nginx, run the commands below

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Create ForkCMS Database

Once you’ve installed all the packages required for ForkCMS to function, continue below to start configuring the servers.

First, run the commands below to create a blank ForkCMS database.

To log on to the MariaDB database server, run the commands below.

sudo mysql -u root -p

Then, create a database called fork cms.

CREATE DATABASE forkcms;

Create a database user called forkcmsuser with a new password

CREATE USER 'forkcmsuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'new_password_here';

Then, grant the user full access to the database.

GRANT ALL ON forkcms.* TO 'forkcmsuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_password_here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Finally, save your changes and exit.

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Download and Install ForkCMS

Run the commands below to download ForkCMS content.

cd /tmp && wget https://www.fork-cms.com/frontend/files/releases/forkcms-5.2.3.tar.gz
tar -xvzf forkcms-5.2.3.tar.gz
sudo mv forkcms /var/www/html/forkcms

Next, run the commands below to change the root folder permissions.

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/forkcms/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/forkcms/

Configure the Nginx ForkCMS Site

Finally, configure the Nginx configuration file for ForkCMS. This file will control how users access ForkCMS content. Run the commands below to create a new configuration file called fork cms.

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/forkcms

Then copy and paste the content below into the file and save it. Replace the highlighted line with your domain name and directory root location.

server {
    listen 80;
    listen [::]:80;
    root /var/www/html/forkcms;
    index  index.php index.html index.htm;
    server_name  example.com www.example.com;

    client_max_body_size 100M;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ @redirects;
       }

    location @redirects {
        rewrite ^ /index.php;
       }

    location ~ \.php$ {
    include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
    fastcgi_pass             unix:/var/run/php/php7.2-fpm.sock;
    fastcgi_param   SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
     }
}

Save the file and exit.

After configuring the VirtualHost above, please enable it by running the commands below.

Enable the ForkCMS Site and Rewrite Module

After configuring the VirtualHost above, please enable it by running the commands below, then restart the Nginx server.

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/forkcms /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

Restart Nginx

sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

Next, open your browser, go to the URL, and continue with the installation.

http://example.com/install.php

Click Next to continue the installation wizard. One of the most remarkable features of Fork CMS is the built-in multilingual support.

In step 2, the languages are chosen for both the front and back end.

The default language you select in this step is shown if the locale module can’t determine the browser’s language.

Type in the database connection info and create an administrator account to manage the platform in the backend. and continue

After entering the info above, click Finish Installation to install the CMS.

You’ll find the private website configuration system at http://example.com/private

That should do it!

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